Reporting on New York City: Labor & Economy
Labor Studies Guide
Cornell University's Catherwood Library has a great Labor Studies guide with many additional resources.
NAICS
Businesses in the U.S. are categorized by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) in order to collect statistical data about the economy. NAICS can be between 2 and 6 digits, becoming more specific the longer they are: 2 digits is the broad sector while 6 digits is an industry subsector. For instance, 56 = Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services, 5616 = Investigation and Security Services, and 561612 = Security Guards and Patrol Services.
Labor & Economy
The New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) "protects and enhances the daily economic lives of New Yorkers to create thriving communities, with responsibilities that include licensing certain business and protecting workers' rights. The New York State Department of Labor is the state agency that enforces labor law and administers unemployment benefits.
NYS DOL Labor Data
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Current Employment Statistics (CES)Monthly estimates, based on a survey of more than 15,400 businesses in New York State, of employment, hours, and earnings by industry. Use the interactive table to find, visualize, and download data for New York State, New York City, individual counties, or other geographies.
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Labor Statistics for the New York City RegionA brief overview of the current month's employment numbers, downloadable (Excel) files of historical and current labor statistics, and reports on a few key areas for New York City.
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Occupational Illnesses and InjuriesAn annual survey conducted with the BLS on nonfatal, work-related injuries and illnesses data for both the private and public employment sectors in the state.
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Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW)A quarterly report of employment and wages reported by employers covered under New York State’s Unemployment Insurance Law. Use the interactive table to find, visualize, and download data for New York State, New York City, individual counties, or other geographies.
U.S. BLS Data
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, part of the U.S. Department of Labor, collects, analyzes, and shares data on the labor and economy, including employment, prices, and working conditions. The BLS website is a (complex) trove of data and information, but these are some popular sources:
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Current Employment Statistics (CES)Monthly estimates of nonfarm employment, hours, and earnings of workers on payrolls. Sometimes referred to as the "jobs numbers."
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Current Population Survey (CPS)A monthly survey of households conducted by the Census for the BLS, with comprehensive data on the labor force, employment, earnings, and more. Useful for statistics on unemployment, minimum wage workers, and other topics.
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FRED Economic DataShort for Federal Reserve Economic Data, FRED is an easy-to-use database with hundreds of thousands of economic data time series from the Census, BLS, and more.
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Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)Employment and wage estimates for 800+ occupations at the national, state, and metropolitan area levels. Check out the May 2024 State OEWS for New York.
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Occupational Outlook HandbookDetails working conditions, earnings, and more for hundreds of occupations.
Workplace Violations
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DOL Enforcement DataEnforcement data for safe working conditions, wage and hour compliance, and employment discrimination collected Department of Labor agencies.
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Good Jobs First Violation TrackerDatabase on corporate misconduct, covering banking, consumer protection, false claims, environmental, wage & hour, safety, discrimination, price-fixing, and other cases resolved by federal regulatory agencies and all parts of the Justice Department since 2000.
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New York Wage Theft MonitorDocumented compiled thousands of wage and hour investigations from the New York State and federal Departments of Labor, covering 2012 to May 2024, compiled by journalists at Documented.
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NYC Employer Violations DashboardTransparency and accountability tool to track and analyze workplace violations, 2020-2023, in the five boroughs across federal, state, and city government enforcement agencies, created by the NYC Comptroller.
Labor Unions
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Labor Action TrackerA collaboration between Cornell University's ILR School and the University of Illinois' LER School, the Labor Action Tracker provides a comprehensive database of strike and labor protest activity across the United States. The interactive map shows strikes and protests from January 2021 to present. See the Reports section for annual summaries.
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NLRB Cases & DecisionsCases and decisions from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the independent federal agency responsible for protecting rights to organize and collective bargaining.
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Union MembershipAnnual release of national and state labor union membership data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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Union Membership and Coverage DatabaseA database, updated annually, of private and public sector labor union membership, coverage, and density estimates compiled from the monthly household Current Population Survey (CPS) using BLS methods. Created by Professors Barry Hirsch, David Macpherson, and William Even.
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U.S. DOL Online Public Disclosure RoomFind information on the membership and finances of individual unions as well as some Collective Bargaining Agreements, from the U. S. Department of Labor.
Additional Local Resources
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New York by the Numbers: Monthly Economic and Fiscal OutlookMonthly newsletter from the NYC Comptroller covering topics like jobs and inflation. Clear and easy-to-understand overview and charts on the national and local economy.
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NYC Employment DataDownloadable (csv files) monthly employment numbers, Seasonally Adjusted and Not Seasonally Adjusted, from the Mayor's Office of Management and Budget.
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OASDI Beneficiaries by State and CountyBeneficiaries of the Old Age, Survivors, Disability Insurance (OASDI) Program—better known as Social Security—by state and county.
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WARN Database & DashboardThe New York State Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act requires covered businesses to provide early warnings of closures and layoffs to all affected employees, their representatives, the Department of Labor and others. See the WARN Database for the notices and the WARN Dashboard for statistics on closures and layoffs.